Virtually all Hackney mothers (99.9%) who delivered at HUHFT during 2013-2015 had their mental health status recorded at delivery – 5% (369 people) were recorded to have ‘poor’ mental health and two thirds of these were receiving perinatal mental health services. The perinatal mental health service covers moderate to severe mental health difficulties during pregnancy that may be pre-existing or arise during the perinatal period.

Of those Hackney residents with poor mental health recorded, 6.2% also had substance misuse recorded at delivery (compared with 0.5% of those without poor mental health). This echoes the link between poor mental health and substance misuse in the wider population (see ‘Mental health and substance misuse’ JSNA chapter).

Just over one third (38%) of women were recorded as having been screened for post-natal depression, with a small minority of these assessments (3%) leading to a referral to perinatal mental health services (78 referrals in total). However, the low rate of screening for post-natal depression means that little can be concluded about the prevalence of post-natal depression locally based on the numbers with a referral recorded.